Gemara Clarity

Menachos 56a

מנחות נ״ו ע״א

Menachot 56a

Learn Menachos 56a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Menachos 56a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

What the word 'אותו' teaches about slaughter in the north, followed by lashes for baking a חמץ מנחה and bloodletting from a sick בכור.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a series of דרשות on the פסוק about the נשיא's goat: 'השעיר' includes the goats for עבודה זרה in סמיכה. רבינא and מר זוטרא then show that the word 'אותו' cannot be excluding נחשון's goat from the north. There was never a reason to think it needed the north, because we do not learn a one-time offering (שעה) from offerings for all generations (דורות). The גמרא tries other jobs for 'אותו': the slaughterer need not stand in the north, a bird is not killed in the north, and the פסח is not slaughtered in the north. Each one is pushed back, either because another source already teaches it or because the קל וחומר behind it breaks down. In the end the גמרא returns to its first reading: the animal must be in the north, but the slaughterer need not be. It rereads רבי אחייה as teaching that the one who collects the blood must stand in the north. Next the גמרא explains רב פפא's rule that baking a חמץ מנחה can bring two sets of lashes, depending on whether the baker also shaped the dough. The amud closes with a ברייתא on bleeding a sick בכור: רבי מאיר forbids making a מום, the חכמים allow it, and רבי שמעון's view continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

לְרַבּוֹת שְׂעִירֵי עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה לִסְמִיכָה.

To include the goats of idol worship in placing hands.

מַתְקֵיף לַהּ רָבִינָא:

Ravina objects to it:

תִּינַח לְרַבִּי יְהוּדָה,

It works out well according to Rabbi Yehuda,

לְרַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן מַאי אִיכָּא לְמֵימַר?

but according to Rabbi Shimon, what is there to say?

The steps (24)

  1. StatementThe word 'the goat' includes goats for idol worship in סמיכה
  2. Challengeרבינא asks why רבי שמעון would need the exclusion
  3. Challengeמר זוטרא: even for רבי יהודה the question stands
  4. ResolutionA possible answer: we would have learned the north from a בנין אב
  5. RejectionIf so, סמיכה should also come from a בנין אב
  6. ConclusionWe do not learn a one-time offering from offerings for all generations
  7. ResolutionA new job for the word: the animal in the north, not the slaughterer
  8. ChallengeThat rule already comes from רבי אחייה's teaching
  9. ResolutionThe word excludes a bird offering from the north
  10. RejectionA sheep is different because it needs a knife
  11. ResolutionMaybe אוֹתוֹ excludes the קרבן פסח
  12. ChallengeThe פסח rule already comes from רבי אליעזר בן יעקב
  13. Proofרבי אליעזר בן יעקב's קל וחומר from an עולה
  14. RejectionAn עולה is special because it is fully burned
  15. RejectionThe פסח cannot be learned from a sin offering
  16. RejectionNot from a guilt offering, nor from any of them
  17. ResolutionBack to the first reading; רבי אחייה teaches about the one who collects the blood
  18. ChallengeCollecting in the north is already known from "and he shall take"
  19. ResolutionThis תנא does not learn from the extra ו
  20. Statementרב פפא: baking can bring two sets of lashes
  21. ChallengeBut baking was called a single act
  22. ResolutionSame baker versus a different baker
  23. Statementרבי מאיר: letting blood from a sick firstborn
  24. StatementThe חכמים allow bleeding even where it causes a blemish